YOU have to wonder what it is in Ben Fogle and James Cracknell’s make-up that drives them to undertake such punishing trips.

Do they enjoy being in pain, suffering extremes of temperature and contracting nasty diseases?

Three years ago they rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic together in 49 days, encountering waves “bigger than houses” that capsized their 21ft boat.

But they are real gluttons for punishment, because they then attempted another extreme challenge together – a race to the South Pole, ski-racing 480 miles while pulling a 150lb sled, in temperatures of minus 50 degrees negotiating crevasses, frost bite and exhaustion.

And all this while Ben was still suffering from the tropical flesh-eating bug leishmaniasis, which he picked up on another expedition to Peru.

He spent a month in hospital having intensive chemotherapy-type treatment.

He says: “The treatment poisons your body enough to kill the parasite and leaves you feeling like an old man. You’re bed-bound, I developed pneumonia, I felt nauseous, and it leaves you pretty depressed.

“Amazingly, the doctors gave me the all-clear with just a few days to go – they said the treatment had worked and I could still go.

“Then when we got back the disease returned, because I didn’t recover enough afterwards. But there’s something you get in the adventuring world called summit fever, where you don’t think about anything else but getting to the finish. I’d put so much effort in, so the thought of not even getting to the start line was just too much.

“Even though I ended up back in hospital undergoing treatment all over again, which was hideous, it was an enormous achievement to make it to the South Pole.”

Ben also suffered the heartache of his wife, Marina, having a miscarriage on the eve of his departure for the South Pole. He admits he considered cancelling the trip but Marina persuaded him to go, and she is now pregnant again.

Father-of-two James, a double Olympic gold medallist, and Ben, plus Dr Ed Coats, began their preparation a year before setting off. They got their bodies used to unbelievably low temperatures by spending 48 hours in an industrial freezer and built up their fitness by pulling tyres along a Devon beach.

They finally started the race, against five rival teams, in January this year.

James, who had severe blisters on his feet and pneumonia, said: “At one point we had to travel non-stop for 28 hours. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

They both claim they will now be spending more time with their long-suffering families, but when asked if they fancied going up in Sir Richard Branson’s first rocket, they both leap at the chance.